8 BULLETIN 108, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



in the United States have evidently come from the south, Kaloter- 

 mitinae occur in southern Europe and tropical countries, especially 

 islands. Those in the United States have come from the south, 

 partly tlirough Mexico, partly from the West Indies. 



Constrictotermes tenuirostris Desneux was described ' from Mexico. 

 Amitennes tubiformans Buckley has been found in Mexico, and A. 

 wheeleri Desneux is ver37" probably a Mexican species. A. califor- 

 nicus Banks taken along the International Boundary Line in Cali- 

 fornia and also in the Santa Catalina Mountains, Arizona, probably 

 occurs in northern Mexico. Ano'plotermes f mosus Hagen described 

 from Mexico is Central American. 



Thus it might be said that many of the 36 species occurring in 

 the United States may have been "introduced." As a matter of 

 fact, certain of these species inhabit peculiar faunal regions or life 

 zones that do not recognize arbitrary international boundaries. 



SPECIES LIABLE TO BE INTRODUCED. 



Of the species most liable to be introduced into the United States 

 may be mentioned the destructive Leucotermes tenuis Hagen (sub- 

 family Termitinae) of the Bahamas and South America. Various 

 other species of the West Indies and Mexico are liable to be introduced 



at any time. 



NOMENCLATURE. 



Termes was used by Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema 

 Naturae (page 609, 1758) for three insects, one termite, and two 

 psocids. The latter have been removed. The one termite was 

 Termes fatale of India; this is then the type of the genus. Several 

 have credited the genus to Hagen, and Holmgren puts Smeathman 

 as authority for the genus, and several have considered T. hellicosus 

 as type. Termes will therefore replace Odontotermes. '' Eutermes'^ 

 was founded by Heer in 1849^ for several fossil termites, all winged. 

 It would seem needless to say that one of his species must be the type, 

 yet other species have always been selected, and several writers have 

 credited the genus to Hagen, or Fritz Miiller, at much later dates. 



One of Heer's species, E. debilis, according to Hagen^ was not from 

 ''Bernstein" but from gum copal, and Heer agrees v/ith him. Hagen 

 examined the type and identified it with a living species from Porto 

 Rico. One of Hagen's specimens is before me. It is a small form, 

 with obsolete fontanelle, and the wing membrane plainlj^ hairy; the 

 mandibles are not elongate. It is a Microcerotermes, allied to 

 M. struncM. I select E. dehilis Heer as type of Eutermes, and thus 

 Eutermes wiU replace Microcerotermes. 



Termopsis was also erected by Heer for fossil species. Girard 

 (1879) says the type is angusticollis, and Wasmann (1897) says the 



1 Insektcnf. von Oenint;en., vol. 2, p. 23. - Moiiofr. I.imi., Eiit., vol. 12, 1858, p. 207. 



